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ACTION PACKED: Renault Formula One driver Nick Heidfeld of Germany jumps away from his burning car during the Hungarian F1 Grand Prix at the Hungaroring circuit near Budapest. (Reuters |
Nick Heidfeld’s Hungarian Formula One Grand Prix came to a fiery end yesterday after his Renault burst into flames after a long pitstop.
The German had only just left the Hungaroring pitlane when sparks started to fly and the back end of the car was engulfed by flames.
Heidfeld parked the car on a grass verge and hurriedly scrambled out as smoke billowed into the sky while marshals extinguished the blaze as a sidepod exploded and flung debris onto the track.
“We wanted to stop early because we were quicker than the cars ahead...and then the pitstop took longer than it should have and I think this is why probably something overheated,” Heidfeld told BBC television. “I was a bit (scared). I had a fire in Barcelona as well but I wasn’t worried there at all but this one got quite close,” he added. “In Barcelona I didn’t feel any temperature and this time I felt some heat so I had to get out quickly.
“After I stopped I think the fire marshals were trying to put the fire out and then there was a small explosion on the left. I’ve never seen anything like that before.” Mercedes’ Michael Schumacher and Team Lotus driver Jarno Trulli were also forced to retire before the halfway stage.
Alonso dreams of sunshine after rainy July
Budapest: Ferrari’s Fernando Alonso looked forward to his summer holidays and hoped any sunshine would still be around when Formula One resumes at the end of August after two rainy races in a row hit his hopes.
The Spaniard bided his time at the wet Hungarian Grand Prix on Sunday to finish third and stay fourth in the overall standings, 89 points behind Red Bull’s leader Sebastian Vettel with eight races left after the mid-season break.
“Unfortunately it was not very hot in July. We love high temperatures for whatever reason in our car so hopefully August and September will be better for us,” Alonso told reporters despite winning in Britain at the start of the month.
“I’m happy with third having started fifth. Again we recovered two positions in the race and we were able to jump on the podium for the fourth consecutive race. The weekend was maybe not as expected, we maybe expected hotter temperatures.”
Ferrari team boss Stefano Domenicali added: “Certainly, going into the race, maybe we had hoped to get a little bit more out of it, but this seems to be the wettest July in the history of Formula One.”
Alonso was second behind McLaren’s Lewis Hamilton in rainy Germany last Sunday while Jenson Button triumphed at the Hungaroring ahead of Vettel, who still holds all the trump cards for the Belgian Grand Prix on Aug. 28.
Felipe Massa ended up sixth after spinning into the barriers having outqualified team mate Alonso for the first time this season by grabbing fourth on the grid. “My afternoon was ruined when I went off the track on lap eight,” said the Brazilian, who has a special affection for Hungary because of the way he was looked after following a life-threatening accident here two years ago. “I lost so much time because of (the spin) and even if I made some nice passing moves and moved up the order, I am still annoyed at not having been able to fight for a podium finish as I probably could have done.”